


The Other Sweet Dreamer

by 2dreamsandcaster2



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Action, Children, Dreams, F/M, Fantasy, Father/Daughter love, Father/Son love, Forbidden Love, Gen, Guardians - Freeform, Nightmares, Opposites, Protection, fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 22:15:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2dreamsandcaster2/pseuds/2dreamsandcaster2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'My eyes seemed almost glued shut, no matter how much I willed them to open. I was vaguely aware of other beings in the room, and I was confused. My heart hammered against my chest. I felt helpless, and alone. My limbs, along with my fingers and toes, were numb and heavy, and prickled with pins and needles, and my lips felt dry and cracked, like the dusty desert ground. Sometimes, being the daughter of the Sandman is complicated'.-Aria Mansnoozie</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Other Sweet Dreamer  
A Rise of the Guardians Fanfiction  
Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG.  
Chapter 1  
My golden hair whipped around my face in the chilled wind. I shivered slightly, and hugged myself for warmth. I rubbed my gloved hands over my cold arms in hope of heat. I averted my eyes towards the glistening frozen lake before me. A dark feeling of dread boiled in my chest; was this the icy deathtrap that Jack had told me about? Was this where the tragedy of his death happened?  
An emotion of sympathy and sadness gripped my heart.  
A vision of his struggling body, small and thin, his damp hair clinging to his face and forehead, his lips slowly turning a wintry shade of blue, his sister's pained cries over her brother clouded my mind...  
I sucked in a breath, puffing my rosy cheeks out and releasing a wispy breath into the air. I couldn't look at it any longer.  
Glancing around, looking anywhere else except the lake, I noticed the grass was slightly tinted with a white crusted frost. The trees were bare and silver, and when I ran my hand over one of the trunks, it was smooth and hollow. A beautiful winter wonderland.  
I smiled. Even though summer was my favourite season, I had always loved the fresh and cold air, the snowball fights and the making of the snowmen, all the while watching children grin as they pelted eachother with the freezing white flakes scrunched together, and the laughter etched on their faces as their friends retaliated by shoving snow down their backs, making them squirm and shiver.  
I sighed. I guessed that it was time to get back to dad, in time for tonight.  
It was dark out, and my vision wasn't very clear-I supposed it was around six. I glanced at the lake one last time. Jack had explained to me in confidence about his sister and how he had died to save her, and I did not want to betray his trust by telling my father or any of the other guardians about it, no matter how much I so wanted to. If I'm honest, I was very flattered that he had come to me from everybody else, and that I was the only one (I think) that he trusted enough with whom to share his past. He had even shown me his house, where he used to live. It must have been painful for him to relive, so I listened with rapt attention and attempted to cheer him up with some sand images, which worked, if only a little.  
I started to trudge up through the snow, which came up to my knees- I am a very short person- and began to hum a soft tune. Small golden music notes drifted up into the evening air, floating up into the sky until they were so tiny they were not within my sight.  
Entering the forest, which made my vision even worse, I stumbled almost blindly around. I jumped as a bird darted through the air above my head, cawing loudly. I tripped over something from surprise, sending myself tumbling through the snow and down a hill, whacking my head off of a couple of things on the way. With a silent cry, I landed in a heap at the bottom.   
I was in serious pain all over my body, and I gasped for breath, as I had been winded. I must have hit my right leg at some point, I could feel it bending the wrong way. The headache was unbearable. My eye was swelling up and tears streamed down my face. My back and neck were sore. My arm hurt. My heart was beating abnormally fast, hammering against my chest painfully. I felt warm liquid trickle down the side of my face, hot against my cool skin, staining the white snow red. If I could groan, I would have.  
I wanted my daddy. I wanted Bunnymund. I wanted North, Tooth, Jack, anyone. I was so scared. I needed help. And fast.   
My vision blurred, and the last thing I saw was a shadowy figure loom over me, before the world was absorbed in darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 

Pain. All I felt was pain.  
My eyes seemed almost glued shut, no matter how much I willed them to open. I was vaguely aware of other beings in the room, and I was confused. My heart hammered against my chest. I felt helpless, and alone. My limbs, along with my fingers and toes, were numb and heavy, and prickled with pins and needles, and my lips felt dry and cracked, like the dusty desert ground.   
The air was cold, sending a shiver down my spine. That had been the first movement I had made since I woke up. It didn't even feel like I had actually woken up; more like I was trapped inside my own mind , floating weightlessly through my sub-conscience, alone and forgotten. I didn't know how long I had been out for, but it seemed like forever.  
The 'other beings', which, for the moment, remain unknown, seemed to concur on something. My breath hitched, and I swallowed the lump that had built up in my throat.  
There was silence.  
I had almost literally stopped breathing now. The lump in my throat had returned. I felt a cool touch on my left hand, sending a spark up my arm, and a warm tingling sensation spread around my body. I jerked up, my eyes shot open like a bullet, and all the numbness had disappeared, leaving me to move my limbs freely. I shook myself awake thoroughly, and stretched until I heard a satifying 'crack' from both my neck and back.  
I turned to the 'other beings'. They both looked identical; though one was older than the other. Pitch black hair and sallow, pale skin wasn't the only thing they had in common. They both had a haunting pair of bright yellow eyes that glowed like a lit torch, which seemed to spread light across their faces, making their otherwise dull appearance stand out. Their thin mouths looked like they were permanantly scatched into a dark smirk.  
I almost choked on my own baited breath. I knew who this man was.  
Pitch. Pitch Black.  
Though we know him as a different name.   
The Boogeyman.  
Even the word sent those that knew of him fleeing to the hills. A glance from those ghostly golden eyes made even fully grown men tremble. If those long fingers even touched your dreams, it would engulf it in darkess and fear, a nightmare replacing the sweet little dolphin that you had been dreaming about.  
"Ah, Aria, sweetheart. We meet again, at last! It's been a while hasn't it?" the spector-like figure teased. His voice was smooth, like melted chocolate, and it echoed around the 'lair'. But I heard the sarcasm dripping from the words.  
Well, let's just say, Pitch and I, we don't have a very good history.  
Last time I saw him, was when he 'killed' my father and we had to kick his sorry backside into the hole he crawled out of. Literally. That hole was the very place I was in now.  
It was damp, dark, and large, and had a kind of eerie glow radiating from it, the familiar black cages swinging back and forth slightly in the draft; those very same cages used to hold Tooth's baby teeth faries when they had been captured by Pitch. It had changed slightly from when I last saw it, Pitch must have done a few things since he got chased down here and backstabbed by his own nightmares.  
My hand curled into a fist, and I ignored the sharp pain that raged up my arm as my muscles tensed.  
'Pitch. What do you want with me? I thought we killed you!' I signed angrily. Golden images, that changed every second, floated above my head to convey my meaning.  
"Aw, well, that's hardly a way to speak, to your saviour is it? My son here, Shade, saved your life. Didn't your sweet Daddy ever teach you any manners?" He received a sharp whip in the face for that. No-one talks to me about my dad like that. Ever.  
His son took a threatening step towards me, but Pitch held out an arm in front of him.  
The grin I had the misfortune of enduring could only be described as malicious, and his nefarious laughter tortured my mind, making me grip my head in pain as I fell to the floor, my legs buckling underneath me.  
He casually wiped the dark liquid that was flowing freely down his face with the back of his hand, and studied it.  
Wiping it onto his coat off of his fingers, he approached me. He grabbed my chin roughly and tilted my face towards him, forcing me to look him in the eyes. His face was mere inches away from mine.  
“Aria, Aria, Aria," he tutted, mockingly. "And I thought you were intelligent. We”-he gestured to himself and his son, 'Shade'-"are going to use you, as bait for the Guardians. They will fall, and you'll be there to watch them crumble.”


	3. Chapter 3

~Flashback~  
"NO!" I yell hoarsly. I immediately spring into action, zooming at lightning speed across the star-scattered night sky. I hear shouts from behind me, but I ignore them. I have only one thought on my mind: 'save Dad'.   
*A couple of minutes before this*  
We were fighting. Fighting, as we had never fought before: to protect the belief of the children of the world, from the biggest possible threat; the Boogeyman, or, as he is known, Pitch Black.  
Jack, Dad, and I battled with the Nightmares in the sky, while Tooth, North, and Mund were in the sleigh.   
I swung my sand-whips around my head like a tornado, whipping Nightmares into golden dust. They were multiplying by the minute, the Dream Shadows swirling around us, draining us of power. But we weren't going down without a fight.  
Dad and I were standing on his dream-cloud using our whips, doing our best to overcome the dark force of the Nightmares; Jack, shooting ice at them, this way and that; North, with his machete, slicing though them; Bunnymund, with his egg-bombs exploding with colours, and his boomerangs cutting through them as though they were nothing more than a carrot; and Tooth, just attacking them with her hands and feet as best as she could: we were all retaliating with as much power as possible.  
But it wasn't enough.  
They were overcoming us, and I could feel the fear radiating from them: children's fear. It sickened me, that the innocent children had to live with these monsters coming to them at night, stealing their dreams and turning them into visions of darkness.  
There was a 'crack'.   
The sound of an arrow being shot.  
I snapped my head around, just in time to see the arrow soaring towards my father's back.  
*back to present*  
The air nips my face, my heart thumping, as I thunder across the sky.  
The world is in slow motion:  
As the arrow hits dad in the back.  
I'm screaming, louder than I even knew I could.  
His golden eyes find mine for the last time, filled with fear and sadness,and he reaches out for me.  
My heart stops, and I desperately grapple for his outstetched hand.  
And I'm too late.  
He closes his eyes, letting the Nightmares engulf him, giving up fighting it.  
And he's gone.  
..........  
*End of Flashback*


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I am terrible at capturing characters. Especially Sandy and Bunnymund. I'm sorry :(

Aria POV  
My scream echoed through the darkness, the memory taking it's toll on my mind. My heart was beating as fast as it had on that fateful day: the day where I lost my father. My limp hair clung to my damp face like a lifeline, sweat trickling from my forehead and down my cheeks.  
A rough shaking had awkakened me from my fitful slumber. My entire body was trembling, even after the shaking had ceased.   
Nightmares.  
I swallowed. Observing my surroundings, visions of yesterday (well, I assumed it was yesterday) flooded my mind. All I did was tremble harder, and more tears poured out of my eyes. I hadn't been aware I was crying in the first place.  
"What the hell was all that about? You would expect to have Nightmares, this is the Nightmare Realm; don't tell me you seriously didn't see it coming?" Shade's voice sliced the tension like a knife. I glared at him with all the menace I could muster while tears still streamed down my face, blurring my vision a bit. Who does this guy think he is? Well, I guess he is the Boogeyman's son.....He's supposed to be a pain in the backside.  
"Oh, feisty, are we?" his signature smirk spread across his thin mouth, sarcasm dripping from his words. Just like his father. Note to self: avoid them as much as possible.  
I raised an eyebrow at him, and his smirk faded slightly.  
"So, what exactly was your dear nightmare about, to make you scream like that," he asked, nosily. I've learnt to be observant over time with my father, and I noticed a little spark of curiousity in his eyes, though he tried to hide it. It made his eyes sparkle...wait, what?  
'Shouldn't you know?' I snapped irritably with my sand.  
He seemed to have no trouble at all understanding my little sand-language.   
"No, I don't. My father dearest doesn't deem me ready to see people's greatest fear. He says I need more training, and that I'll be prepared soon. Then, I'll be able to see everything." He smiled wickedly, pointed teeth showing.   
I looked at him. 'You hardly need to know then, do you?' My temper was rising. He seemed to sense this, and his grin widened.  
"Actually, I'm quite curious. I could see a faint outline of your nightmare, and it seemed like you were trying to defend a giant marshmallow or something."  
Smack! Wow, deja vu.  
'Shouldn't you have seen that coming, Nightmare Man?' I smirked, as rage built in his eyes. No more Sweet Little Sandgirl.  
He rubbed his cheek, where the skin was pink from when I whipped him. Guilt washed over me, as I saw the blood start to gush, shockingly red against his ghostly pale skin. I grimaced as he held his face in pain.  
I sighed, tearing a piece of cloth from my already ripped dress, and dipped it in a glass of water that was on a small, wooden table, beside the 'bed', if that's what you would call it, I had been sleeping on. I approached him, slowly, and he eyed me warily. I kept walking until I was right in front of him, and gently pressed the cool, damp fabric against his bleeding skin, dabbing away the blood slowly oozing from the cut.  
'Sorry. I can't stand it when people insult him.' My sand swirled above my head limply in apology.  
He grunted, wincing, and placed his hand on top of my own. My cheeks burned a dark gold, and his a bright pink. I smiled slightly, it did look cute on him.....It almost made me forget about my Daddy.  
Almost, being the key word.

What. Am. I. Thinking?  
**********************************************************************  
*With the Guardians*  
Sandman POV  
WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?????!!!!!  
She was supposed to be back hours ago! She told me she was just going for a wander around the woods in Burgess, which I said was fine. (Of course, before hand, I had interrogated Jack for any dangers there were, and after he had explained to me for 15 minutes that there weren't any, I had agreed to let her go. (Don't give me that look! I'm not over-protective! ............)  
Aria had told me to stop worrying, that she would be fine, and that she would be back by half past six, just before the sun started to set, so that we would have plenty of time before our rounds started.  
Now, it was half past four in the morning.  
Jack had tried reassuring me that she was okay, and probably just fell asleep, resulting in me giving him a strange look. I would be able to tell if she was asleep, call it fatherly instincts if you will (however, I suppose that being the Guardian of Dreams would help).  
"SANDY! Stop with pacing! Need to relax, daughter be back soon! I feel it in my belly!"   
RELAX?!  
I glared at North. Says the guy, who, when told news that Aria hadn't returned, started kicking his elves in frustration when they tried to offer him cookies. This resulted in a lot of cookie crumbs scattered on the floor, along with some shards of broken plate. You could tell the guy was stressed.  
Not that the others were any better: Tooth fidgeting nervously in the air, her wings fluttering twice the usual speed, and also talking a lot more quickly when giving orders to her faries(which is FAST), leaving them confused to whether it was Latvia, or Lithuania, or Malta, or Madrid; Bunnymund snapping at anyone who even tried to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, yelling twice the volume of his usual voice at Jack, who I could tell, was slightly hurt by this, and his breathing was louder too. He was pacing, like me, and occasionally dragging toys around the floor with his large foot (paw?).  
But non were more worried than me.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Shade POV  
OUCH.  
Damn, she can hit bloody hard! And I find it extremely attractive....What?!  
I gripped my cheek in pain. I could feel the red liquid stain my hand, making it wet and sticky. I probably shouldn't have made fun of her father...After all, I can relate to her situation: I know how it feels to give up hope on everything. I know how it feels to be angry at the world.   
I know how it feels, to loose someone you love....  
I shook off my stupid feelings. The only thing that matters is that fear rules the world.  
Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked at...what was her name? Aria, was it? I looked at 'Aria', and saw a dab of guilt in her beautiful golden eyes...*insert facepalm* That, and she was holding a damp piece of gold cloth in her hand, obviously torn from her ragged dress. She approached me, and I eyed her suspiciously. She stood on her tiptoes, and gently held the side of my face, bringing me down to her short level, and pressed the cool fabric to the side of my cheek. Instant relief, and a mysterious and unfamiliar warmth, spread throughout my body.   
I put pressure on the cloth, covering her petit hand with my own. A spark of electricity shot up my arm, and heat rose to my cheeks. Her cheeks too burned a bright orange. She looked adorable.......  
********************************  
What. Am. I. Thinking?  
********************************  
Jack POV  
Geez, people really need to chill, no pun intended. But, seriously, I'm worried about Aria too, she's like a little sister to me......And fretting about her isn't going to bring her back.  
I've never seen The Easter Kangaroo so stressed, not even on the day before Easter. She's like a neice to him, they were really close. She always defends him when I call him a Kangaroo, but she has a sense of humour.  
And North, he's like a father to me, so he's almost like a second-father towards her, well, so is Bunnymund, but he's more of a granddad, really. Which is kind of weird, because her dad, Sandy, is older than him.....  
Tooth, she's even more talkative than usual. Which is worrying. Her Baby Teeth, and the Yetis, they too have gone mental. The situation has even put a damper on the elves' moods.  
Aria, buddy, where are you?  
********************************  
Sandman POV  
Jack seems a bit irriated at everyone. Which annoys me. If he think that we're going to be completely calm, about my daughter going missing, then he can think again. I thought he cared about her?  
Aria, sweetie, where are you?  
*******************************  
Pitch POV  
The girl reminds me of her father: spirted and annoying. There's that same stupid sweetness, and innocence, about them that just makes me want to throw up.   
This is the perfect plan to lure the guardians into my trap. What better way is there to kill someone than see them trying to save someone they love, and replacing that love with fear?   
I might just have to torture and murder her in front of them, so I can enjoy their own totured reaction.  
This will kill the Sandman.


End file.
